This ‘Introduction to Safeguarding in Rounders’ course serves as a foundational step in educating the rounders community about the vital significance of safeguarding measures within rounders settings. It aims to instil a deeper understanding of why safeguarding is essential for the well-being, safety, and overall positive experience of all individuals involved, particularly children and adults at risk.
This introduction sets the stage by highlighting the potential risks and vulnerabilities present in rounders environments, such as abuse, neglect, poor practice and misconduct. It emphasises the responsibility of everyone involved — coaches, volunteers, players, parents, officials, and administrators — in creating and maintaining a safe and supportive environment for all.
What is Safeguarding?
Through Safeguarding, this means we are all:
Protecting children and adults from abuse
Taking action to enable rounders to be a safe place
This animation has been produced to help anyone involved in delivering sport or activities to children and young people. It shows the difference between child protection and safeguarding in a sports setting and looks in more depth at how children and young people can be further protected beyond their time at training sessions.
Why Safeguarding Matters
Safeguarding is Everyone’s Responsibility
This course has a clear message – if something looks, sounds and feels wrong – REPORT IT.
Safeguarding Children
Children have rights.
The child protection system in England is grounded in the Children Act 1989, as amended. Statutory guidance published by the government, Working Together to Safeguard Children, provides detailed information on the core legal requirements.
In rounders, this includes the right to be safe and have fun. Children must also have the opportunity to develop healthy relationships with appropriate boundaries. Safeguarding helps protect these rights.
The basics are simple. You must:
Put children’s safety first at all times
Listen to what children say and take them seriously
Report any concerns about a child, immediately!
There are multiple roles in rounders and, depending on what you do, you may have specific responsibilities.
Make sure you know what’s expected.
Position of Trust
Coaches are in a position of trust
Being in a “position of trust” implies a duty to act in the best interests of those under their care and to avoid any actions or behaviours that could potentially harm or exploit them. Individuals in positions of trust are expected to uphold certain standards of conduct, professionalism, and integrity to protect children from abuse, exploitation or harm.
The Sexual Offences Act 2003 makes it a criminal offence for someone in a position of trust to engage in sexual activity with a child in their care, even if that child is over the age of consent (16 or over).
Are you completing this course and aged under 18?
If so, whatever your role, you should:
Be supervised by a qualified adult when working with other children
Be respected and treated appropriately by everyone, whatever their age
Know who to go to for support and advice.
If you’re worried about someone’s behaviour towards you, tell an adult you trust. You can also contact Childline for help and advice 24/7. Asking for help is a sign of strength and confidence.
Safeguarding adults
Rounders England is committed to creating and maintaining a safe and positive environment and accepts our responsibility to safeguard the welfare of all adults involved in rounders in accordance with the Care Act 2014.
Rounders England’s Safeguarding Adults policy and procedures apply to all individuals involved in Rounders England. Please take a look at our Safeguarding Adults pagefor further guidance and support.
By implementing robust safeguarding measures, we can ensure that all adults can participate safely and confidently, fostering a healthier and more inclusive sporting environment.
You’re Part of a Team
When it comes to safeguarding in rounders, you’re never alone. If you’re concerned about a child or adult at risk, there are always people who can provide advice and support. To find out who they are in your environment, select the pictures below:
Other Sources of Help
Always know who you should turn to with a safeguarding concern.
There may be times when your designated safeguarding person is unavailable. If this happens and you’re concerned about a child’s immediate safety (or your own if you are under 18), who should you contact?
Best practices in safeguarding involve creating a safe environment for everyone involved in rounders, particularly children and adults at risk. Below are some key components when considering Best Practice…
Ensure your team/club have comprehensive safeguarding policies and procedures in place that outline expectations for behaviour, reporting mechanisms for concerns, and guidelines for appropriate conduct, such as Codes of Conduct. As a member of Rounders England, you can also adopt our safeguarding policies.
Ensure that all staff, volunteers, coaches, and participants receive appropriate training on safeguarding policies, recognising signs of abuse, and how to respond to concerns. Further details on training can be found on our website here.
When working with children (and ideally with adults too) there should always be a minimum of two adults present/running the session. This means if anything goes wrong (e.g. illness/injury), there’s always someone there to help.
It’s important to conduct thorough background checks on staff and volunteers who will be working with children or adults at risk, and fall within Regulated Activity, to screen for any history of misconduct or criminal behaviour. Undertaking an enhanced DBS check is crucial in creating safe environments, ensuring recruited staff and volunteers are eligible to undertake their role.
Rounders England have developed procedures for recruiting and selecting staff and volunteers, including interviews, reference checks, and vetting processes, to ensure they are suitable for working with vulnerable populations. You can find the guidance here.
Teams & Clubs need to provide adequate supervision and monitoring of activities to prevent situations where individuals may be at risk of harm.
Rounders England recommend the below coach: player supervision ratios:
Players age 3-8 years: the ratios are 1:8 (one coach to every 8 children)
Players age 8 years and above: the ratios are 1:15 (one coach to every 15 children)
When it comes to following best practice, observing our Codes of Practice would be a great place to start.
Our codes establish clear guidelines and expectations for appropriate behaviour among coaches, umpires, volunteers, athletes, parents/guardians and spectators.
Understanding what constitutes best practice makes it simpler to identify instances of substandard practice and abuse. Regardless of your role in rounders, this skill is vital.
Videos and photos are excellent tools for celebrating and promoting rounders, and children and adults alike often enjoy seeing themselves featured in them.
Make sure you familiarise yourself with Rounders England’s Guidance. Also check to see if your team, club or league have their own guidance relating to filming and photography (also relating to social media).
It’s very important to follow these for the safety of everyone around you!
Whether you are running or attending a rounders event, safeguarding should be part of the planning process.
Take a look at Rounders England’s Safeguarding Risk Assessment/Checklist to help you when organising an event.
Behaving Appropriately Online
Social media platforms and apps like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, are great tools to keep up to date and in touch, however, it’s important to understand that you must behave appropriately online.
Below is some guidance when communicating with under 18’s online…
DO
✔ Explain to parents/carers the purpose for coaches, officials etc. to communicate online with their child
✔ Get consent from parents/carers before communicating online with children and include them in all correspondence
✔ Make sure online communications are only in relation to club/team related activities e.g. travel arrangements, venue change etc.
✔ Only use group texts, emails etc. and always copy in the parent/carer or the Welfare Officer of the club/team when communicating with children
DON’T
X Coaches/Volunteers/Staff should never contact children online using their personal profiles
X Respond to online messages from children other than those directly related to club/team matters
X Use online communications for personal conversations, sending pictures, or anything of a personal nature
X Use language that is sexist, racist, derogatory, abusive or sexualised in its tone
Rounders England’s Social Media Policy can be found on the website here
Examples of good/poor practice and behaviour within Rounders
Best Practice
Safety is enhanced when everyone is aware of expectations. Let’s delve into some best practices and behaviours that are relevant to all…
Poor Practice
Unfortunately, sometimes things go wrong.
Select the arrows to scroll through some examples of poor behaviour:
Further guidance on how to set up a committee can be found on our website here or on Buddle
Concerned about someone’s behaviour online?
Report it
Under 18?
If someone makes you feel uncomfortable, afraid, or embarrassed online, tell a trusted adult immediately. Save any images or messages you’ve received, as they may be needed as evidence. No adult, whether a coach, an official, or anyone else involved in rounders, has any reason to send you private messages (your parent/guardian should be included in all correspondence).
If you’re feeling pressured to share pictures of a sexual nature of yourself or others online, even with people your own age, please don’t keep this information to yourself. If anyone requests a personal picture from you, shares a picture of themselves, or shares any sexual content, report it immediately to your Welfare Officer or trusted adult.
Further Information & advice can be found on Childline here.
